As a seasoned RPG enthusiast with over two decades of gaming under my belt, I must admit that Obsidian Entertainment has once again piqued my interest with their upcoming masterpiece, Avowed. Their decision to eschew traditional character classes and instead offer a classless system that allows for unparalleled freedom in crafting one’s character is nothing short of revolutionary.
A giant beetle charged toward me, and as it stepped into a big puddle in the center of the room, I snagged it with a burst of magical vines that appeared beneath its feet. Then I blasted the creature with one of my dual flintlock pistols–this one charged with electricity–which sent arcs down through the water, shocking a few skeletons that were joining the fray behind it. As they looked to overwhelm me, I unloaded with both my pistols, zipped a little sideways with a dodge, and clambered away to unload on them before they could slice me up.
Among the standout moments during my interactive session with Avowed, the upcoming first-person RPG by Obsidian Entertainment, was its fluid combat system and unique blend of features. The game has drawn some parallels to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and wielding two weapons at once certainly seems fitting. Experimenting with various playstyles, such as firing off elemental pistols, moving stealthily with a bow, or unexpectedly launching explosive jars into a fray, was quite enjoyable during my brief preview of the game. This glimpse also suggested that the tactics I sampled merely scratched the surface of what Obsidian aims to achieve.
At an Xbox event in Los Angeles, Obsidian presented a one-hour sneak peek of Avowed, similar to what was displayed at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany this week. The demonstration version follows the storyline where you, as an envoy from the Aedyran Empire, are on a quest to locate a missing expedition that ventured into the Living Lands’ islands, a vibrant yet perilous game environment. My journey with my companion character Kai led me deep into a vast subterranean cave system.
In Avowed’s trailers, we learn that the Envoy’s mission involves locating the source of a perplexing ailment known as the Dream Scourge, which ravages the Living Lands. This enigmatic affliction affects both creatures and flora, and its presence is not only found on the surface but also buried underground. In the initial stages of the game, the nature and effects of this disease remained a puzzle.
When I first laid eyes on Avowed’s cover art, it instantly reminded me of Annihilation – the novel by Jeff VanderMeer and the film directed by Alex Garland. Delving into the demo only reinforced this feeling; the demo transports you to a radiant, captivating subterranean cave, teeming with greenery and cascading water, and adorned with luminous vegetation.
During our interview following a demo play, Art Director Matt Hansen and Production Designer Ryan Warden seemed quite excited when I mentioned Annihilation. Hansen confirmed that while every team member has contributed various sources of inspiration to the game, Annihilation stood out as a major influence.
Hansen explained that the world they created is incredibly vivid, a deliberate choice as it opens up opportunities to delve into various aspects of color psychology. He added that vibrant colors often symbolize danger, and this decision aligns with their goal of portraying Living Lands as the most perilous region in Eora. However, this bold use of color creates an intriguing contrast against the grim tales you’ll face throughout the game.
In both the book and film, an unusual occurrence seals off a region of land referred to as Area X. An investigation team is dispatched to explore it, with unsettling and gruesome consequences. To gain entry, the team must traverse a mysterious, incomprehensible boundary named the Shimmer in the movie.
Warden noted that he finds intriguing the theme of duality and light versus dark in the story, particularly the moment before the group enters the Shimmer in Annihilation. He explained that this moment is filled with a mixture of apprehension and anticipation as they face something new yet unknown. This feeling mirrors the danger present in the Living Lands or at least what they aimed to convey – a sense of uncertainty, like whether you’re receiving an affectionate hug from a loved one or a constriction from a python. A touch of suspense enhances the overall experience.
In the realm of Obsidian Entertainment’s Pillars of Eternity series, Avowed stands out as it bears a striking resemblance to their more recent role-playing game, The Outer Worlds, in its gameplay style. This isn’t just due to the shared first-person perspective between Avowed and The Outer Worlds, contrasting Pillars’ isometric viewpoint. Instead, Avowed offers a speedier, more immediate gaming experience. Navigating through the cave involves a lot of jumping across gaps and scaling ledges, although it doesn’t have the free-running capabilities found in Assassin’s Creed, this demo showcases the emphasis on verticality and traversal within the game design.
During an interview, art director Matt Hansen shared that while working on The Outer Worlds, they recognized a potential for greater verticality within the game. This meant enhancing traversal mechanics, which was an unexplored area for their studio. They were excited about the opportunity to explore this new direction and learn from any obstacles encountered along the way. Hansen admitted that he didn’t particularly enjoy the traversal in The Outer Worlds, but found it adequate with no major issues. However, he emphasized that they wanted to significantly enhance this aspect for their upcoming project, Avowed, aiming to create a more momentum-filled experience.
In Avowed, one unexpected aspect that stands out is the emphasis on momentum throughout gameplay. It seems like Obsidian has placed great importance on movement, not just for combat and exploration, but also within those actions themselves. You’ll find yourself running, jumping, and navigating platforms, but there’s more – a quick dodge move for combat that allows you to dodge incoming attacks or maneuver around enemies. Similar to many games, Avowed offers a slide when sprinting, which isn’t strictly necessary for combat or movement, but it’s enjoyable, so Obsidian included it. Players have been delighted to discover this sliding ability as they explore the game.
In his words, Hansen mentioned that their game, being an isometric, top-down style, moves at a slower pace compared to others, especially when it’s real-time with pauses like Pillars. This made it intriguing for the team to delve deeply into what makes those enjoyable moments in gaming. Essentially, they wanted to explore uncharted territories, such as incorporating elements from games outside of the genre that have proven successful, and determining which of these aspects can be realistically integrated into their project.
Exploring further into the cave, our demonstration kept us company with Kai for extended periods – voiced by Brendan Keener, who famously played Garrus in the Mass Effect series. Kai frequently offers insightful comments on the situation, helping to develop his character and highlighting the evidence we discover as we venture deeper into the cave. He mentions that this area appears to be inhabited, not just by remnants of the expedition, but also by active life forms. The cave is hazardous, with xaurips – aggressive humanoid lizard beings – being one of the threats we’ve encountered frequently on our journey. Additionally, there are numerous traps set throughout the cave, some of which have ensnared the hasty or inquisitive members of the expedition.
In the course of our exploration, we encounter a survivor from those dangerous traps and hostile beings – a boy named Caedmon. Alongside Kai’s narration, Caedmon provides a glimpse into the tone of Avowed. Wounded severely and possibly near death, the first action Caedmon takes is to express regret that he will die a virgin. Fans of Obsidian will instantly recognize the type of interaction here, as there are numerous dialogue choices for how you handle Caedmon, many of which depend on your character’s attributes, such as the focus areas during character creation or the backstory you’ve selected.
If you lend a hand to Caedmon, he’ll share details about the expedition with you as a return favor. Conversely, you could tell him to tough it out and move past his critical injuries, but, as we saw during our session, another journalist found out that such an approach would unfortunately lead to Caedmon’s demise – albeit in a somewhat amusing manner.
Caedmon guided us to Sargamis, a seer who worships the deity Eothas and seems to oversee the hidden temple and its traps. Sparingly informative, Sargamis assigns you a secondary mission that coincides with your investigation, tasking you with finding the Shard of Eothas further within the cavern. This relic might have been the objective of the explorers as they delved deeper, and returning it to Sargamis could enable him to summon and imprison Eothas in a colossal statue. The story behind this quest is rich, and one distinctive feature of Avowed is that tooltips will provide brief explanations of unfamiliar terms alongside dialogues for easy comprehension.
The pinnacle of your journey with Sargamis involves retrieving a shard and offering it to him, after which he attempts to employ various mystical and technological artifacts to summon his deity, only to appear unsuccessful. He then proposes an intriguing solution: sacrifice your soul to the statue to lure Eothas in. The dialogue offers you the opportunity to comply if you so desire, but it seems risky. Not surprisingly, as this is an Obsidian game, you can persuade Sargamis to offer his own soul instead. Although you can express concerns that this won’t succeed, he proceeds regardless, and events unfold precisely as anticipated. Thus, by making the appropriate decisions, both characters you encounter meet their demise shortly after interacting with you.
Interacting with Caedmon and Sargamis can be humorous at times, but, as Hansen and Warden explained to me, Avowed isn’t primarily a comedic game like the satirical The Outer Worlds. Instead, its tone is similar to Pillars of Eternity – it can be amusing on occasion, but it also has a more serious, even dark side.
“[The Pillars of Eternity game] are designed for mature audiences, but we understand adults appreciate humor too,” Hansen explained. “To balance the seriousness of many aspects, we incorporate humor in both the dialogue and visual storytelling. However, it’s not a comedy game per se. Just as in real life, when dealing with intense tragedies or tough situations, people often resort to laughter for comfort and stress relief, which is a significant aspect of human psychology. The game showcases various contrasting themes, and emotions feel more profound when juxtaposed against their opposites. For instance, something becomes darker in contrast to brightness, and this principle applies to narrative tone as well.”
Just past the oracle and his statue, following another intense battle against some colossal beetles, you eventually discover the Splinter of Eothas resting on an altar, but there’s no indication yet of the expedition’s arrival. Picking it up triggers a cave-rattling earthquake reminiscent of Indiana Jones, leading to a boss battle against a hulking, barbarian-like skeleton known as the Godless Executioner.
In this battle, the large adversary delivers powerful blows with a double-handed sword, forcing you to swiftly evade to prevent sustaining heavy damage. However, the challenging aspect of this confrontation lies in determining your strategies. Over time, the Godless Executioner is accompanied by an assortment of skeletons – archers, sword-and-shield fighters, and a healer who keeps the boss healthy throughout the fight. You can’t advance until the healer is defeated, but fighting the boss becomes difficult while dodging arrows from the archers simultaneously. Fortunately, Kai steps in to distract the boss, allowing you to focus on eliminating the lesser skeletons in the area.
In the first instance, I executed the series of moves twice using two distinct character setups. For the initial run, I chose the dual-pistol character, which was labeled as a “ranger” in the game’s save data. This character was equipped with a bow for quiet long-range shots and had an ability to become invisible for escape purposes during risky situations. The second time around, I opted for the “barbarian” profile, who used a large, two-handed club to deal massive damage to the boss through powerful melee strikes.
As a gamer, diving into the world of Avowed by Obsidian, I found myself initially assigned typical RPG roles like ranger or barbarian within my save files. However, what sets this game apart is that it eschews traditional character classes. Instead, the diverse builds presented during these demos serve as a sneak peek into the multitude of strategies I can employ in the game. I even glimpsed a magic-centric character, though I didn’t get to play with it myself.
In contrast to the Pillars series, this game stands out due to its lack of predefined character classes. Instead, it offers you the freedom to craft your own playstyle. You’re not limited to choosing a barbarian at character creation. Rather, you could opt for sword and board, sword and pistol, or even wand and pistol. Essentially, you can create any combination that suits your preference.
One key aspect that Obsidian aims for with Avowed is high replayability and the opportunity for players to discover various routes within the game. Warden noted that despite multiple playthroughs of the preview build, he frequently encountered unexpected paths due to its design. For instance, he mentioned a player who bypassed one of the major combat scenes in the demo – the battle with the beetles – by using an invisibility spell instead. Warden expected this player would engage in that fight on their way out of the cave. However, it turned out they didn’t have to because the earthquake triggered by grabbing the Splinter of Eothas flooded the cavern, something he hadn’t anticipated. You can even swim through the floodwaters and find all the drowned bugs, he added.
Based on observing others navigate through the demonstration, it appears that the duration is somewhat shorter than anticipated. If one moves swiftly and avoids detours, completion can be achieved within a brief span of time. However, I personally spent an hour delving into the cavern quest, absorbing lore, exploring nooks and crannies, and discovering side quests that activated by hitting concealed switches. Despite its brevity, the demo was rich in engaging content and activities to explore.
I inquired from Hansen and Warden about how Obsidian plans to handle Avowed, which isn’t a typical full-scale open-world game like Skyrim – they’re referring to it as an “open zone,” where the map consists of numerous large yet distinct areas for exploration. By adopting this somewhat limited open-world approach, they explained, Obsidian can increase the richness and content within Avowed, similar to the dense detailing seen in the demo’s cave.
Hansen mentioned that the game is rich in visual detail and offers numerous activities, he explained. He added that as levels become larger, maintaining such density while ensuring smooth performance becomes challenging. To address this, they aimed to prioritize content development and not compromise due to accommodating a vast open world.
“Our zones are still huge,” Warden added. “There are some of them that are absurdly large.”
The demonstration concluded shortly after my arrival back at Sargamis with the artifact, known as the Splinter. Incidentally, the power to the gaming stations flickered out right before the demo’s protagonist relinquished his spirit to the statue. I remain clueless about the fate of the expedition. However, by poring over notes and books, conversing with the two characters in the demonstration, and drawing upon my own imagination, I was granted an enticing glimpse into the vast expanse of the Living Lands. Although my exposure to the game was fleeting, it promised a wealth of potential, filled with humorous moments, intriguing characters, rich lore, and a swift, engaging combat system at its core. Avowed appears to encapsulate all the elements that make Obsidian’s RPGs immersive, thought-provoking experiences, while marking a significant stride forward for the studio. The true extent of this leap will be revealed when the game launches in February 2025 on PC, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox Game Pass.
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2024-08-23 21:40